- Andrzej Szczepaniak, Barclays
Britain's retail sales advanced unexpectedly during previous month as Black Friday discounts led consumers to splurge on electronics and household goods. According to the Office for National Statistics, the volume of goods sold in stores and online went up 0.2% from October. Excluding auto fuel, sales were up 0.5% while online shopping, soared 3.8%. Meanwhile, no change was forecast in a Bloomberg survey. It is worth to point out that increase follows a 1.8% jump in October when cooler temperatures spurred demand for winter clothing. It means that sales will grow in the fourth quarter unless they drop 6.9% in December. These figures suggest consumer confidence remains buoyant in the wake of the Brexit vote but headwinds are building.
In the meantime, the Bank of England continued its freeze on interest rates on Thursday with its last monetary policy decision of a mixed year for the UK economy. Today's minutes show that the Bank has revised its inflation forecasts down a little, due to the recent recovery in Sterling. Following the decision, the Pound has fallen sharply against the US dollar.
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